Dragon Ball: New Life

Vegeta and Eschalot exited the Room of Spirit and Time just as Ramen and Raditz appeared. Vegeta had a look of confidence, clearly pleased with his training. He didn't get a chance to ask where the cyborgs where before Raditz interrupted.

"How did this Cell problem happen?" the Emperor questioned. He clearly wasn't happy about the new developments. "Where is Kakarot?"

"Kami was trying to track the cyborgs when Cell appeared. After sensing the power of Cell, Kami saw the necessity in merging with Piccolo. Kakarot went to Planet Namek to see if he could bring a replacement Kami." the reborn Piccolo explained. "According to messages left by Cell, we have seven days before his tournament to decide the fate of the world."

Raditz was surprised Cell's evolution had nothing to do with Vegeta's actions. He guessed that like in the original story, Vegeta's arrogance caused him to allow Cell to absorb the cyborgs. This time, the former prince didn't know anything about the time travelling horror.

When the group finished catching Raditz up with what was occuring, he walked to the edge of the Lookout to get a sense of Cell's power. The Emperor focused his mind to allow him to better focus his senses.

"Reiss, we are going into the Room. Now." Raditz snapped at his son. The power he sensed coming from Cell was the strongest he had ever felt.

"But uncle Kakarot and Cousin Gohan are next." Reiss said.

"Too bad, he isn't here." Raditz said, "Let's go."

The group watched the father and son pair enter into the Room of Spirit and Time, completely ignoring the predetermined order. The others understood they probably wouldn't be able to close the gap necessary to defeat Cell, so they didn't take offence to their turn being pushed back.

"How can something like this exist!" Vegeta shouted from the edge of the Lookout. "How does it have so much power!"

The Saiyan wanted to gauge the strength of the new threat and was shocked to discover even after training, he still fell short. He had great difficulty reconciling the fact that another powerful being had appeared. If Raditz hadn't gone into the Room of Spirit and Time, Vegeta would've immediately headed back in for more training. All the gains in power he and his daughter reaped were instantly meaningless the moment they emerged.

Kakarot and two Namekians appeared on the Lookout. One of the Namekians was very young and the other bore a striking resemblance to Piccolo. The group remembered seeing both of the Namekians when they were defending the planet from Frieza.

"This is Nail and Dende." Kakarot reintroduced the pair. "Dende will be taking over as the new Kami and Nail will be his guard."

"I'll do my best as Kami." Dende promised.

"Vegeta, your out of the Room! It seems like you made a lot progress!" Kakarot was impressed by how much stronger Vegeta had gotten. "Guess it's our turn now, Gohan!"

"Actually, uncle Raditz came back. He went in with Reiss." Gohan explained.

"What? Really?" Kakarot asked.

Gohan nodded his head confirming to his father that their turn in the Room was taken. Kakarot knew the only thing left to do was to wait until his brother and nephew returned. If nothing else, his brother might have useful hints after his year of training.

While he waited on his tournament to begin, Cell passed his time by obliterating the Earth Defense Forces that were sent to eliminate him. It took three days before they finally called off their attack, after discovering their efforts were futile. The perfect life form was amused by how quickly the Earth troops recognized their inferiority.

Once the attacks were called off, Cell chose to put the finishing touches on his grand arena. He had constructed a very large, ornate, ring based on the design of the World Martial Arts Tournament arena. He hoped that the warriors on the planet would at least give him a chance to test his superior powers.

The sound of an approaching helicopters pulled Cell from his thoughts. The logo on the side of one of the helicopters identified it as belonging to the news organization, ZTV. Cell was unfamiliar the colorful logo on the side of the other chopper.

A suit wearing man with glasses and a pencil mustache emerge from the ZTV chopper, followed by his cameraman and a blonde woman with short cut hair and a dress suit. The blonde woman moved near the man in the suit while the cameraman attempted to frame them properly. Cell thought about getting rid of them, but chose not to because he wanted the world to see their heroes fall.

"Ladies and gentlemen this is Jimmy Firecracker here, along with my special co-host award winning author and reporter, Tights B.r.i.e.f.s." the reporter announced.

"Thanks Jimmy." Tights continued, "We will be here the entire time to bring you, at home, news of the battle to determine the fate of the planet."

"Already the champion of the last World Tournament, Mr. Satan has already arrived." Jimmy explained as the cameraman showed the other helicopter. "Mr. Satan was trained at the famous Kame Dojo, school of several past tournament competitors."

At the Kame Dojo, Masters Roshi, Gohan, and Chiaotzu were all dumbfounded by Satan's appearance on the TV screen. They knew he was arrogant form his tournament victory, but never thought he was foolish enough to try to fight a monster like Cell. Although he was nothing special, he did have some talent at martial arts.

Which was proven by the fact that he was the best student the Dojo gained in years. The Dojo's rival, the Crane School, had similar problems with discovering talent. all of the Dojo's knew when kids graduated from the fighting schools, they would have a new wealth of talent to train.

The afro-haired, orange gi clad, Mr. Satan tightened his white belt around his waist. Unlike his fellow dojo members, Mr. Satan wore baggy white pants to stand out. He made sure to strike a heroic pose for the camera. His popularity skyrocketed after his tournament win, allowing him to receive endors.e.m.e.nt deals. He was considering using his wealth to start his own martial arts school.

"As you can see, the Champ is fired up." Jimmy was excited to see what kind of miracle the mustachioed Mr. Satan could pull off. "What's this? A group of mysterious warriors have appeared near the arena!"

"That isn't just any group, Jimmy. Emperor Raditz is over there along with his brother Kakarot, former world tournament champion." Tights pointed out. She would have mentioned Vegeta, but didn't want to draw attention to the fact he attacked Earth years ago.

When he heard the explanation from Tights, Jimmy's mind buzzed with thoughts of an interview with the emperor. Mr. Satan moved closer to the newly arrived group in an attempt to insert himself into their circle. Cell smiled from seeing all of the fighters he would get to crush willing come right to his doorstep.

"How would you like this to play out?" Cell asked, "One on one? Or would you prefer to attack me as a group?"

"That's big talk coming from a freak like you!" Mr. Satan shouted.

The champ flipped into the arena full of confidence and ready to take on the terror from the future. Raditz knew where this was more than likely going, but just out of curiosity he checked the human's power level.

When the Scouter completed its scan, the device returned a value of 942, which was impressive, compared to his original self. The increase in Satan's power from his normal self was still meaningless in comparison to Cell. After a warm up round of shadow boxing, Mr. Satan moved closer to his bored looking opponent.

"You messed with the wrong planet. Now you gotta answer to me, Mr. Satan!" he pointed at Cell.

"The Champ has made a bold declaration! Will he be able to make good on his promise!" Jimmy was a major fan of the current world champion.

"No, he won't, unfortunately!" Tights answered, "I've been around the galaxy in my occupation as a writer, and I can tell the Champ is probably in over his head, Jimmy."

The excited anchor looked like he had cold water dumped on him. He couldn't believe Tights dashed his dreams with a smile on her face. Everyone watched as the bored Cell lazily lifted his hand and fired a Ki blast at his opponent. Mr. Satan, unable to dodge the blast, was sent flying out of the arena, ultimately crashing down near the reporters. The injured Mr. Satan wobbled to his feet as the reporters silently looked on.

"I can't believe Cell used a sneak attack! If it wasn't for the break in my concentration, my power wouldn't have overloaded, blowing me out of the ring!" Mr. Satan lied, "I guess I have to give this win to him! It's only fair I give everyone else a chance! Bwhaha!"

"I see." Jimmy nodded accepting the obvious excuse.

Tights rolled her eyes, unconvinced by the excuses given by the self delusional champion. Cell focused his sights on his true targets.

"Which one of you would like to fight next?" he asked, "Should I pick or will you decide for yourselves?"

"I might as well do it. You mentioned me by name after all." Raditz answered.

In one swift motion the Saiyan moved from where the group was standing, to inside the ring opposite Cell. Raditz planned to fight Cell first from the beginning, which was why he used the Room of Spirit and Time twice before the tournament; the current limit of the Room's usage. He wasn't sure whether or not Vegeta or Eschalot were strong enough to beat Cell, but they also used they Room twice.

"Just for clarification, what happened to the Red Ribbon cyborgs?" the Emperor asked.

"I consumed all of the cyborg models to attain my perfect form." Cell didn't deny it.

"Okay, I just didn't want to worry about them after I beat you." The others had told Raditz when he arrived that they had not heard anything from the cyborgs, since their earlier defeat.

"You can't beat me, I'm the perfect lifeform created from the DNA of Earth's strongest warriors." Cell gloated, "That even includes your DNA obtained from Dr. Wheelo's arctic base you invaded as a child."

The two fighters slowly approached each other as though they were out for a calm stroll. When they were just a few feet apart, they vanished before everyone's eyes. The sound of explosive impacts rippled through the area creating massive shock waves.

Jimmy Firecracker, Mr. Satan, and the cameraman Lionel were thrown to the ground by the force generated by the battle. Tights was fortunate Vegeta moved over by her to shield her from any collateral damage. His shield protected her from the brunt of the impact force.

"Thanks, Vegeta." Tights was grateful for his actions.

The Saiyan stubbornly turned his head away to continue watching the battle unfolded. He knew that neither fighter were going all out yet. They were still warming up, trying to get a feel of the other's true power.

Mr. Satan's eyes were wide with amazement and horror. He had never experienced anything like this before. Even with his training, he couldn't perceive what was happening in the fight. The recordings of the past world tournaments were nothing compared to what was happening.

The instant the explosions ceased an eerie calm fell over the area. Raditz and Cell reappeared, in the middle of the arena, still in their fighting stances. Neither fighter looked damaged by the encounter above the ring.

"I think it is time to take this fight to the next level." Cell suggested.